The Impact of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Outbreak on Trends in Emergency Department Utilization Patterns

Paek, So Hyun; Kim, Do Kyun; Lee, Jin Hee; Kwak, Young Ho

This study has some limitations. First, the retrospective, single-institution nature of this study is its main limitation. Because the patients in our study were enrolled at only one tertiary hospital, the results cannot reflect the characteristics of all ED patients in Korea. Future research is suggested, and a re-evaluation of all the data from emergency rooms at tertiary educational institutions in Korea during the same period is necessary. The analysis of data from the National Emergency Department Information System (NEDIS) is needed. Second, there might be unmeasured confounding factors that could have affected the outcomes such as an underlying disease. Third, the ESI level that we used might not completely reflect the true disease severity, as it is sorted based on the initial assessment of the acuity level, followed by the expected resource needs.